The Fantasy Of The East

PREFACE

 I t is difficult to imagine that writing on such a topic as Zen Buddhism could strengthen a person's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, I found myself seeking the truth for a time by studying Zen. After a season of earnent study, I could not control the despair swelling up within me due to the growing, tragic realization that I was completely inadequate to attain harmony with God, truth, or self (whichever it may have been) on my own strength. Shortly thereafter, the Gospel was presented to me and that spiritual void within me was suddenly filled. Now, I no longer have to live with the paradox of destroying self, yet deifying it in the search for truth.

INTRODUCTION

    Chinese Buddhism was born out of the womb of ancient Brahmanism, which is the foundation of the Hindu religion in India today.¹ Bodhidharma brought Buddhism from China to Japan in 520 A.D. and established what is presently known as Zen Buddhism. Zen comes from the Sanskrit word, dhyana, which is translated as "meditation that leads to insight;" hence the emphasis upon achieving satori.² Satori is the Japanese counterpart of Chinese nirvana and these words are used interchangeably to refer to their ultimate hope--the enlightenment experience. This enlightenment experience, though difficult to describe because of its elusive and non-logical nature, is attracting increasing numbers of adherents both in the East and the West and is being sought through a diversity of methods. Satori is both a deliverance from the world and an achieved harmony or oneness with the true essence of existence. There are significant changes in the enlightened individual, which surprisingly are the same regardless of the method used for attainment. Each of these areas shall be briefly considered.

WHAT IS SATORI?

    Satori, the enlightenment experience, brings about deliverance from the shackles of avidya (ignorance) and samsara (the round of birth and death). lt causes a great mental upheaval which ushers in a completely new way of perceiving the universe.³ At this point there are great changes and new, definite feelings in the awakened individual. The Substance of Satori shall investigate what enlightenment delivers from and with what it puts the individual in harmony. The Symptoms of Satori shall discuss the resultant meaning for and effects upon the individual.

THE SUBSTANCE OF SATORI

    Transcending Qualities of Satori:

    A fundamental tenet of Buddhism is that the oneness of the universe is a constant, living reality but avidya has entered into the world, causing men to think and perceive dualistically. Avidya (best translated as ignorance) is the doctrine which attempts to explain that the absolute suchness (truth or being) willed to assert itself in a negative way towards itself, thus originating the multiplicity of the universe.⁴ This negative influence in each mind causes it to view life in parts or segments. Dualistic thinking (good and evil, birth and death, being and non-being, etc.) is a manifestation of this evil force. If a man is unable to transcend his logical and dualistic perception of the world, he will never rediscover the oneness which is hidden within himself.⁵ The satori awakening smashes avidya and brings about a transcendent, non-logical perception of the universe. Dr. Lit-sen Chang, a noted Zen scholar, states:

It is the claim of Zen that it can reduce the tension of all opposites by leaping above them, for Zen claims to bring about the 'unity of man and the universe,' to effect the 'rhythm of the mind with the changing forms,' and to produce the state of 'oneness'.⁶

    The doctrines of samsara and karma are interrelated and need to be understood. Samsara deals with the wheel of birth and death; that is, the realm of transmigratory existence or the realm outside of enlightenment.⁷ All beings are in bondage to the ceaseless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Being chained to this wheel means that all beings are subjected to the deep, terrible sufferings and sorrows of the world for countless numbers of lifetimes.⁸ Why are they bound in this way?

Continued

1. Statement by Gerritt Tenzythoff, Head of the Religious Department, Southwest Missouri State University, personal interview, Springfíeld, Missouri, October 11, 1974. back
2. Huston Smith, "Zen", Encyclopedia International (1969), XIX, 584. back
3. Statement by Gerritt Tenzythoff, Head of the Religious Department, Southwest Missouri State University, personal interview, Springfíeld, Missouri, October 11, 1974. back
4. D.T. Suzuki, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism (New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1963), pp. 116-118. back
5. Hee-Jin Kim, "Mystical Realism--A Humanist Element in Zen Buddhism," Religious Humanism, II (Autumn, 1968), 158. back
6. Lit-sen Chang, Zen-Existentialism (Nutley, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1969), p. 4. back
7. Ibid., p.239. back
8. Kim, op.cit., 156. back